The Witch Trials in Salem
Putnam accused a woman named Martha Corey of being a witch. Then an old woman named Rebecca
Nurse was accused.
Soon so many people were arrested that on 27 May 1692 the governor, Sir William Phips
(1651-1695), set up a special court of `oyer and terminer' to deal with them all.
The executions
The first person to be executed was called Bridget Bishop. She was a controversial figure in
the community. She had been married three times and she ran two taverns. Worse, she had been tried
for witchcraft before, in 1680. Yet the evidence against her was feeble. It was said that dolls with pins
in them were found in her house. Despite the flimsiness of the evidence the unfortunate woman was
convicted on 2 June. She was hanged on 10 June.
If the evidence against Bishop was, at best, circumstantial, the evidence against other people
was absurd! The afflicted girls claimed that they could see the accused person's `spectre' attacking
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